1. In Ipoh ..Maybank Ipoh Garden Closed For Sanitization Until Further Notice
2. A New High? ..Malaysia Covid19 above 2,800-mark.
3. A 'Cock-and-Bull story'.. lawyer Sithambaram said of Najib's defence in SRC case
4. Really lah ….. Graphic artist !..Fahmi Reza arrested FOR SEDITION!
7. Disgusting II….”Teacher made jokes about rape”, claims student
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| Thiru and his VVIP customer HRH Sultan Nazrin |
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| 2010 MBI Liscense |
I visited him 10 years before when I heard that he would be closing.That was when he used to run Star Hair Dressing Salon a large shoplot along Jalan Sultan Yusof or Belfield Street as it was called in the old days.
I recently saw him again in his new Star Salon which is really a cubicle and inquired after him.
‘I don’t mind the small cubicle. It is difficult to
get workers now so this is all right" he said.
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| The cubicle of 'New Star Salon' in four languages |
"The business before the pandemic was all right. But now since the lockdown the business is dull and very weak. I don’t know how long I will keep this barber shop.
My children told me to stop but I still want to work
as it is not heavy. I live just 4 blocks away and walk to work. Sometimes I
return for lunch and don’t come back but today my son gave me a lift after
lunch”.
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| Thiru's family |
Thiru, 82 has three children, two boys and a girl all
of whom are working in Ipoh. His first boy was mechanical engineer but now has
his own barber shop. His second a girl is a headmaster and the third is an
architect.
Coming
to Malaya
In 1953 when he was 13 his father brought him to Malaya from India. His father was a barber and worked at Little India, Ipoh
just several blocks away. Thiru however went to work with his uncle at Star barber.
He learnt barbering when he used to cut the hair of
young boys at half the price. It was a training and gradually moved to the
adults.
“Do you know that I studied in St Michaels
Instituition” he said it rather proudly.
"The school was run by the Mission of the Christian
Brothers. When they came for their haircut my father talked to them to get me
into school. They told me to come to the school office.
The brothers gave me a paper for an English test to
see if I could study. I wrote and entered. I did 4 years of schooling until 1957".
He remembered that on the weekends the barbers would
go to school to cut the hair of the boarders. But on any school day the
discipline master would march boys with long hair to the shop to get their
haircuts.
History
"Star barber was started in 1927. At that time it was a half shop while the other half was owned by a Japanese tailor. During the Japanese occupation the Japanese tailor ran away so then we took over the whole place”
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| The original 'Star Hair Dressing Saloon'in four languages |
In the 60’s we had 14 barbers plus a cook all of whom came from India. All stayed in the 2 story shoplot.
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| ....a spacious shop lot ... |
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| tools of the trade ... |
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| List of Barbers |
The Regular Customer
On the wall of his cubicle is a black and white photograph of the old shop with all the barbers and a regular customer.
The
customer was Dr Moreira who had his clinic 3 blocks away next to FMS now
called Durbar at FMS.
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| (Seated) Regular customer Dr Moreira (centre) with Thiru relatives seated. Thiru is on the floor. |
We were very grateful so I arranged for a group photo to
be taken with the doctor. I called Fun Photo from around the corner at Market
Street who came with his big camera just for the regular customer.”
Thiru stayed at the shop until the early 80’s when he
shifted to the 20 story Kinta Heights which was managed by the Ipoh Municipality.
Municipality staff too frequented his shop. Upon inquiring about the flat they asked me to apply. I am still staying there.
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| Thiru and his wife at their Kinta Heights flat. |
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| Thiru has six grand children |
Thiru has lived his whole life in the Old Town of Ipoh
and has seen the changes taking place.
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| From the 19th floor "I can see the whole of Ipoh...points towards Ipoh Airport |
JAG
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| Former Canning councillor Wong Kar Keat at the stagnant drain on Monday. Photo was posted on Wong's Fb page. |
When residents of Jalan Potter, Canning Garden discovered that the drain in their neighborhood was clogged and smelly who did they call .. their former city councilor Wong Kar Keat.
The location
of the blocked drain was situated on the west side of Jalan Kompleks Sukan at
the side of Tuanku Zara Aquatic Centre.
The
condition of the drain was severely blocked with rainwater not being discharged but overflowing. The blockage had caused mosquitoes to breed and emit an unpleasant
odor due to the hot weather.
Wong assessed the situation and promptly alerted Canning Assemblywoman Jenny Choy. Yb Jenny contacted MBI for immediate handling.
Wong
reported that the contractors started work on Monday afternoon.
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| The drain on Tuesday afternoon. Cleared but the work is still ongoing |
As of
Tuesday afternoon the blockage had been removed and work was still ongoing. The
cause was the outlet was blocked by debris. It was estimated this blockage situation took one month to reach this stage of stagnation and foul odour.
Good job former councilor Wong.
JAG
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| Jerry Francis (2nd from left) with other press personnel during the communist insurgency |
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I remember Sungei Siput South. Although not as
notorious as Sungei Siput (north) during the Emergency, it had its share of
incidents in the fight against the communist insurgents.
This incident occurred in the vicinity of Sungai Siput (South) on April 14 1973.
I went to the village the following day to report on
the killings of two insurgents in an ambush in the village by 3rd Battalion,
Police Field Force led by Supt. Mohamed Kassim.
It was the battalions first success in the security
operation.
Supt. Mohamed Kassim had handpicked 10 men on the
information of the Special Branch for the ambush.
The men who were in disguise, waited throughout the
night of April 14. At 11am the following day, five insurgents walked into the
ambush position and had an exchange of fire.
Two of the insurgents were killed. The rest managed to
escaped and fled in the direction of Cameron Highlands.
The PFF battalion was in the area as part of a series
of Operation Setia. The operation which was launched in September,1971 covered an
area from Sungei Siput (north) to Tanah Hitam, Tanjung Rambutan and further
south.
Thousands of leaflets urging the insurgents to
surrender were airdropped in the area in the follow up to the incident.
The State Security Council introduced effective
measures in the village, which at that time had a population of about 800
people.
Jerry Francis
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| The Police station at Sg Siput south...l |
Took a drive to Kampar in the early morning recently just because the ban on inter-district travel was lifted. Been a while since I’ve taken a drive in the country and get some therapy from nature.
It was pleasant throughout and most enjoyable
especially going thru all those estate roads and then the nearby hills.
Something about hills that makes you like them.
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| A morning drive thru estates ... |
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| and nearby hills |
Then I came to this village I guess it was an old tin-mining town. It had a Police Station and diagonally opposite was a Chinese coffee shop and across it a community hall.
A
blue signboard confirmed it was Kg Sungai Siput (S) selatan.
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| On the main road looking west the Police station, locked gate, coconut trees and a hilly backdrop.... |
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| diagonally opposite ..the Community Hall |
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| ..and a Chinese coffee shop ... |
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| .. looking east another hill and some farms at the foot of the hill |
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| ...part of a quaint village |
Only thing I couldn’t comprehend was why the gate to the
police station was locked. The half wall and roofed guard house gave the
impression that this place once (possibly) was a guard post during communist
time???
However the picture of the police station with coconut trees and a hill in the background was tranquil and pleasant. In fact there was a hill on the east and west of the village.
It was lunch time and a Chinese shop meant there would
be cold beer available. Well my hunch was right on and so I had my cheese
sandwich and cold sustenance.
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| My cheese sandwich and cold sustenance |
A common trait was they were all in the senior citizen category.
A Telekom van showed up to do maintenance.
The Telecom person was called Salbi based at Batu Gajah which is quite a distance away.
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| Salbi the Telekom person |
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| The other end of the main road .. |
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| ..the old and new ... roof tiles and old wood ..interesting contrast |
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| Look east to another hill ... |
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| Pix by Kinta Valley Watch |
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| Junior in the nest and MBI below ..trauma for Junior? |
Junior the Oriental / Honey Crested Buzzard got a scare last Thursday 1 April when an MBI (Ipoh City Council) work team came to do their scheduled tree maintenance.
This MBI
team had come to clear the branches but at the adjacent tree not the tree that
Junior occupied.
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| MBI team and equipment |
The whole
job did not take long and the work team was gone. But the sound of the
shredders and especially the gondola crane possibly was a trauma to Junior after having been abducted just weeks ago.
A Simee resident
called to birder enthusiast Jek Yap who showed up while the workers were still
around.
An MBI worker
who inquired what the commotion was all about was told that there was a baby bird
in the next tree. He responded that they were not aware and hoped the baby would
be alright.
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| An agitated Junior .. moving around in the nest.... |
After the team had left Junior seemed agitated as he moved around in his nest. Trauma or just restlessness to fly? Two days later Junior looked just as restless as ever.
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| ..or just restless |
JAG
